New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1887-07-13
SHARP ar THE BAR.

The scene in Judge Barrett's court to-day.
when Jacob Sharp IL to be brought up for sen
tence. should teach lesson to great many
reputable gentlemen who have been prac-
Using for years the same methods of business
which have brought this old man to shame
Nobody has a word to say in defence OF the
reg,res who take brides, BUT the regues VINO
give them find a plenty of exelHcrs. The lax
ness of the public conscience in this respect
Is far more serious sign or evil than the
venality of Aldermen. It has become fash
lou to say that since these fellows will do
nothing without being paid, honest men must
sulnIt to the extortion and pay them, and
the bribers fail to see that they cease to be
honest men the moment they do So 1t would
be instructive to know how many officers OF
corporations annually appropriate bribe money
for use in the Legislature, aui uapIer what
bead they enter it in ther public accounts !:
how many eminent lawyers sell their services
for transactions which they know to be venal |;
how many candidates fer office deliberately
buy votes under the fiction Of election ex-
penscs. We can form some idea OF the ex-
tent of such pract Is when we see how eager
ly the conmoner scosndrels grasp at a chance
to get into * the AI6ermanic business and
how mary notorious Adventures, with no
visible means OF support, are able to pay
$50 600 for an election to the Assembly and
to thrive there ON a salary which will not
pay their hotel bills. sub things could not be
il the lobbIes were not pretty constantly
haunted with the agents Vt respectable brbers
A remarkable Illustration ol the dcmoralizcd
conscience was given ia the cipher dispatch
investigation few years ago. Mr.. smith NJ
Weed had been detected In an attempt to
bride the South Carolina Returning Board
to falsify the figures so rs to give the Prrsi-
dcnev to Mr. Tilden. On examination before
the House Cemmittre he acknowledged with
out the East hesitation that he had made
such an attenIpt, Offering bride of $4,000
and that uader similar circumstances he
would do So again. He thought that Mr
Tilden ought TO be President. and he saw no
harm in paying for the office if it could not
be got otherwise Mr. Weeds confession
seemed to do him no harm in his party. He
has been the friend, adviser, and travelling
companion of President Cleveland, and he
has been mich talked Of for high office. Mr.
Manton Marble was concerned at the same
time in IN attempt to bride the Returning
Board of Florida, after the failure Of which
he denounced the "venality' Of the Boarf
in language which win long be rememb cred
as a curiosity of venom He is probably not
conscious of having lost caste by the transac-
ton, especially after receiving an Important
appointment from the present reform Admin
istration. Mr. Tildcn's nephew, Senator the
Governor Of Il State, enc or two banking
houses and two or three prominent persons
whose names as yet have only been whispered
in connection with the affair, were impli-
Gated in the extensive plot to secure tho
Presidency by bribery and not one of them
except Colonel PeIton ever had the grace tn
confess that he had done wrong Colonel
PeTton accordingly was the only enc against
whom Democratic politicians showed any
resentment
Tie prompt conviction of Sharp WAS a
much more important event than the sending
of the Aldermen to Sing Sing. because bis
crime represents much more insidious form
Of corruption than their blatant rascallty.
We can trust most decent men not to sell them
selves it was getting to be Il question whether
we could trust reputable members Of society
and promoters even Of commcndable enter
prises not to offer brides. Sharp at the bar
is perhaps the emblem Of an awakened con-
science. We may pity the victim, but rarely
has the suffering Of criminal promised more
for the public Now let the lesson be re-
inforced by the conviction of SOHO of has
respectable associates.